Great Easter Choices

Michael Vaughan
Friday, March 21, 2008

Welcome to Good Friday First. May I wish you and your family the best of health and happiness for this Easter. As it is Good Friday, you will not be able to buy any of my recommendations – the LCBO is closed. Hopefully you were able to pick up some of my best buy selections from last week.

To see our Ratings, Drinkability & Cellaring Table click here
See LCBO store availability by clicking on the name of the wine

Easter Whites? Think Riesling

As you all know, I love the vivaciousness of a chilled glass of Riesling. It’s a classic palate-pick-me-up and goes well with ham and almost any appetizer. One of the tastiest values at the LCBO is a great New Zealand Riesling - the delicious Matua 2005 Marlborough Riesling (G27078) for $15.85 on the general list. Sadly, this extremely tasty, gently honeyed but dry, harmonious, grapefruit-melon-lime flavoured Riesling complete with mineral-tinged notes has been delisted due to not making its LCBO minimum sales quota.

Closer to home, the quality of Ontario Riesling is definitely on a roll – many are much better than ever before. There were a number of Gold Medal winners at the recent Ontario 2008 Cuvée Awards, which included:

RIESLING (Best of Class) • Thirty Bench 2006 Small Lot Riesling "Triangle Vineyard" winery only at $32.
This classy well-made effort scored highly when I tasted it at the Gala. I wish I could have tasted it blind along with the other submissions. This is even truer as I gave the edge to the ready-to-enjoy, very slightly honeyed, less expensive Thirty Bench 2006 Riesling (V24133) at $17.80, which was also being served at the Gala. There are still a few bottles of this tasty September 15, 2007 release at the LCBO.

CUVÉE GOLD AWARD • Henry of Pelham 2006 Reserve Riesling (G283291) a General List Best Buy at $14.80

Very bright straw colour. Slightly spicy, very bright, mineral tinged, ripe lemon-melon nose. Dry, light to medium-light bodied, honeyed, tangy, ripe lemon-melon flavours with a lingering clean lifted slightly schisty finish. Very pure. Screwcap closure.

BEST GENERAL LIST WHITE • Hillebrand 2006 Trius Riesling (G303792) a General List Best Buy at $13.95 with 8 bonus AirMiles to March 30th.

Light straw colour. Attractive, slightly honeyed, ripe lemon-melon nose with a hint of grapefruit. Faintly honeyed, medium-light bodied, ripe lemon-melon-apple flavours with a lingering finish. Fairly juicy with just a wink of sweetness on the smooth finish.  

To see complete result of the Cuvée 2008 Awards click here.

Easter Reds

I had originally planned to do an Easter Rosé section because these lighter wines are versatile and go well with both poulty and ham. When I came across Hillebrand Artist Series 2006 Gamay Noir (G58610) at $11.65 I knew that I found my perfect Easter “rosé”. It has a light red colour and fine, dry, bright, juicy, plummy, strawberry-raspberry flavours that dance on the tongue. This new VQA listing is a terrific, versatile, crowd-pleaser. It didn’t get an award at Cuvée because it wasn’t presented.

Another delicious match with roast chicken/turkey is the stunning, just-released Stoneleigh 2007 Marlborough Pinot Noir (G54353) at only $19.95. Never mind dancing, this juicy, medium to medium-light-bodied, plummy, cherry-driven New Zealand effort will make your Easter dinner guests jump for joy.

If you wish to receive the March 29th Edition of Vintage Assessments
click here and it will be sent to you today!